Wedding Blog

Even though I read the Gocco instruction manual and watched the how-to videos a million times, I was still really nervous about breaking open my new Gocco machine.  I decided to start simple, with only one color (black) and a simple line drawing illustration that I drew. 

This is me right before my Gocco machine decided to teach me my first lesson. Pardon the mess, I tend to fling stuff everywhere when I’m attempting to be crafty. I also tend to wear unmatching jammies. And yes, those are pink princess balloons.

I was super excited when the Gocco flashed because I figured it meant I did something right. Right? Wrong. I lifted the top to discover only half of my print had transferred to my master, and the other half was blank. I wasn’t sure what I did wrong until I realized only one of the bulbs had flashed. I figured I just didn’t screw it in right, so I unscrewed it and rescrewed it, then I threw away the very hot already-flashed bulb and screwed a new bulb in its place. For extra reassurance, I went to a Flickr discussion group for Gocco and discovered that sometimes bulbs can be defective and just not work. Crap. I glanced back at my Gocco machine and forgot which bulb was the “defective” one and which was the new one I screwed in. I figured it made more sense to just toss them both out then to have to possibly ruin another blue filter screen. So, I threw the two bulbs away, shrugged and started fresh. I also put in new AA batteries because I wasn’t sure if that might have been part of the problem.This time, I double-checked everything and crossed my fingers and luckily, it worked!

This is the inked screen, which was a pain in the arse to clean.

I was a scaredy cat and didn’t want to mess up any of my pretty, curry-colored Paper Source cards, so I tested the print out on a piece of ugly notebook paper first.

Success! I highly recommend a drying rack, it definitely saved my cards from being trampled on by our curious pooch, Betty White.

I thought this would be an appropriate first project to share with the hive.

I think for my next card I’ll attempt to do a multi-colored illustration with more detail. The idea of trying more than one color makes me a bit nervous, but seeing all of the bees with their intricate invitations and projects definitely makes me want to try my hand at something for advanced. I’ll be selling my Gocco cards in my Etsy shop and in several local boutiques, because I’m a total Martha wannabe at heart.

For my next project I want to make thank you cards for our bridal shower. which will be in early August. I also want to do something cute to thank our bridal party, to go along with the gifts we’ll be giving them at our rehearsal dinner. I can already tell this will be my newest addiction (a very healthy one, at that!). I ordered a bajillion different colors of cards and envelopes from Paper Source and can’t wait to bring more ideas to life. I also bought a Xyron machine last week, thanks to the 40% off Michael’s coupon that was posted on Weddingbee. Making stickers has never been so easy and fun

Did anyone else find it hard to get the courage to start their first Gocco project?